Sonic Reloaded
by BlossomingRosebud
Summary: With new and ambitious villains threatening the peace of Mobius, a new league of heroes must arise to team up and fight evil. But when a new dark force arises, could Sonic and his friends find it too much to match? An entirely new AU with elements from the comics and the games. Rated T for violent scenes.
1. Chapter 1: Beginnings

"'Trying' is not enough! I want some action! I need results! Get your intelligence team to run a full analysis of Eggman's forces. Tell all those investigating on the field to run procedure Delta G. I want a full report from every one of your field agents by sundown, got it?"

The disgruntled G.U.N. officer hung up the phone just in time for one of his leading agents to come in with his report. With the impeding attacks of world-renown villain Dr. Eggman on the Republic coming at large, the headquarters of the nation's official security organization, G.U.N., was working in a flurry to launch its counterattack.

"Yes, Agent Jay, come in. Any news about Eggman?"

"Well, you see, I believe we may have been beaten to him. This just came out this morning," the agent handed over a newspaper from Central City. The headline read 'Evil Doctor Defeated by New Hero, Sonic the Hedgehog'. "It says that this 'Sonic' character has destroyed Eggman's entire army. His base is in flames as we speak, and the doctor has already made the appearance of leaving the area."

"Agents have reported already some of this… but I was unaware just how much. Jay, make a note to train the new field agents more on detailed reporting, will ya? 'Sonic the Hedgehog'…I've never heard of him. Seriously, who is this kid?"

"I ran a search on him through our databases, sir. He's really just a street urchin. His village was destroyed in an MD attack when he was 8. He became a ward of the state, but broke out of an orphanage just a year later."

"Were any attempts made to retrieve him?"

"Yes, sir, but he was unable to be caught, so they basically gave up trying. You see, the boy has this super-sonic speed. We are not sure as to the cause of this ability, but it is possible he may be infused with some chaos energy due to the nature of it. Simply put, he's 15 years old, and has been on the run living on his own since age 9. Recently, he has been doing some minor crime-fighting and some rescue actions during natural disasters – helping people, basically. This is his first time attempting to fight Dr. Eggman himself."

"Well, I'm not sure what to say to that. He could be good news or bad news. He may be playing hero now, but the kid's still a classified misfit in society likely to rebel against the system altogether. It doesn't make it any better knowing he's these abilities… Either way, I'm getting some agents to keep an eye on him; he's not one to be ignored."

"Should I take this to the Commander?"

"Let me tell 'em. I'm not sure how much caution the guy's going to put on this. I may see the warning labels clearly, but face it. His top hand-picked agent Rouge is a jewel thief, and that Hope girl is the freaking niece of the Republic's greatest enemy, Dr. Eggman. Just saying, he might not freak out so much over Sonic, but hey, who knows? Time will tell what side this kid's on, but until then, I'll be watching.

_1 year later… _

BOOM! CRASH! FZZZT!

"Ah, I love the smell of burnt Badniks in the morning…" Sonic sighed, gazing over the field of Eggman's robots that he just got done destroying. "The Eggster never disappoints, now does he?"

"I wonder how many more waves of these Dr. Eggman's going to send," Tails pondered.

"Well, however many, we'll be ready!"

"Oh, that reminds me, I got something to show you!" Tails led Sonic over to his workshop. Once an old warehouse for building materials, the aspiring young fox had converted it into the perfect workshop for building his inventions. When they got inside, Tails uncovered his newest creation, one he had been working on for some weeks now. "I call it…the X-Tornado!"

"Whoa, a new plane?"

"Yep. This one is built to have advanced maneuverability, and it has a fully equipped battle mode. It can accelerate to 658 miles per hour, max."

"Pretty cool. When do ya wanna try it out?"

"Err…now?"

"Great! Let's go!"

As the duo took the X-Tornado out for its first test flight, Tails reminisced about their first plane, the one he ever-so-eagerly fixed up on the day he and Sonic met. Sonic had just defeated Eggman for the first time when he came upon the sobbing fox. Tails remembered it as clear as day-

_"Hey, what's wrong?" Sonic had skidded to a halt to ask him._

_"It…it's…my g-grandmother. She d-died. Lived in that house o-over there," he pointed to the old and mildewed clapboard house he and his grandmother had lived in for the past seven years. "I-I just got no where to go."_

_"Nowhere? No parents?"_

_"No."_

_"Aunt? Uncle?"_

_"No, n-nobody."_

_"Dude, I'm so sorry. Seriously, I know how you feel. Anything I can do?"_

_"Wha-what's that? Down there?" he pointed to a run-down plane at the bottom of the hill."_

_"Oh, that? That's just a plane I pulled from a dump. It flew for a while, but then it fell out and crashed. Looks like I'm gonna have to leave the old thing."_

_"C-can I fix it up for you?"_

_"I'm not sure. It's in pretty bad shape. Besides, I'd hate to bother you-"_

_"No, really. It's not a problem. I like fixing up planes and cars and the like. Look over here," he led Sonic to an old barn behind the house, which was filled with vehicles and inventions._

_"Whoa. Are these all yours?"_

_"Yep. I like building stuff in my spare time. My grandpa had a bunch of books on engineering and mechanics, so I used them to teach myself. Your plane is just like one he used to have, a V-487. It's a pretty classic model; it would be really cool to fix."_

_"Whoa, dude. If you really want to, you can have the thing."_

_"Thanks!"_

And so it started. After repairing the plane, Tails had asked Sonic if he could follow him around on his adventures some. Sonic wasn't too sure about it at first, but since he had taken a liking to Tails, he said that he could come along as long as it wasn't anything too dangerous. However, it didn't take too long for Tails to show that he could handle himself out there, weaponizing the plane and also learning to fly with his twin tails to at least somewhat keep up with Sonic's speed. Also learning that they both came from the same village which had been destroyed years before, the two became fast friends, and the rest is history.

"Dude, this plane is awesome! _That_ is what I call speed!" Sonic congratulated. The two were now at Central City Station, where Tails had stopped to refuel.

"Thanks, but I may have to modify it somewhat. The plane burns up fuel a bit too quickly. I built it to be compatible with a Chaos Emerald to provide energy, but that would require us actually getting one, and we don't even know where they all are! I guess building it that way was more wishful thinking on my part."

"Hey, no problem. I'm sure we can find one eventually. Maybe if we-"

"Extra! Extra! All the news you need at one low price! Fresh off the press!" Sonic was interrupted by the newsboy trying to sell the morning paper to the crowd at the station. "Brand new headline! New attack by Dr. Eggman!"

"Eggman, huh? I'll be back in a moment," Sonic whizzed on over to buy the paper and whizzed on back. "Take a look at this. It looks like Eggman's taken the AcornKingdom."

"As in, conquered the whole nation?"

"Yep."

"Wow, that is bad. He's never been that successful before. Maybe he has a new weapon… What does the article say?"

"Not much, but it does say he's got almost the whole royal family trapped in the Zone of Silence. Everyone but the princess, Sally Acorn, who it looks like he just captured and now wants to banish is some televised spectacle tomorrow."

"I'm guessing he wants to make a show of his power."

"You got that right. Eggman never loses the chance to gloat, which means we better get over there today."

"Wait… what? We've never even been to the AcornKingdom before!"

"Well, we're going now if we wanna stop the Eggster. What do ya say?"

"Well, I guess we could. But we _have_ to be careful. If Eggman already has the whole kingdom, that means that his robots will be _everywhere _by now."

"Got it! Let's go!"


	2. Chapter 2: Shattered Kingdoms

"It's not working!"

"Errr…no sweat. You want me to find you some parts or…?"

"Nothing we can find _here_," Tails sighed, frustrated, leaning against the crashed plane. It was not long flying into the realm of the AcornKingdom when they were shot down by Eggman's security robots, crashing in the forest. "Unfortunately, we need some key components that I can probably only get in a shop. It looks like we're grounded."

"Sounds like we need a new plan then," Sonic decided optimistically. "Got something?"

"Well, we can't go straight into the castle now that we're on foot, so we'll need some sort of a back door to get in. So…since we don't exactly know the area, we'll need to find someone who does."

"Yeah, like someone from the castle."

"Yes, but they might all be imprisoned or worse by now. Maybe if we-"

UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL. ENGAGING SECURITY PROCEDURES.

"Get down!" Sonic yelled as the guard robot started firing on the duo. It was a larger model, heavily armored with multiple turrets and missile launchers.

COMPLY OR BE DESTROYED.

"Hmmm…not quite sure about either of those options," Sonic replied sarcastically as he spin-dashed the thing. The robot got up, only slightly fazed, and proceeded to fire. Sonic whipped around, narrowly avoiding the bullets, and landed another blow. Taking some more, the robot waited for right timing, and after a spin dash to the face shot a missile at the hedgehog before he could get out of its proximity. Taking the hit, Sonic somersaulted back into a tree and landed roughly on the ground. AS the robot readied its arm cannon, Tails darted to the scene, but realized that he couldn't quite reach him…

BLAM! The two looked up in shock to see a flying half-robotic rabbit firing a missile straight at the robot. Closely following her was a sword-wielding coyote who sliced right through the robot's middle, causing it to short-circuit and combust, falling in a heap on the forest floor. The rabbit eased down on the ground beside him; both of her legs and her left arm were all robotic, and she wore a pink top and broad "cowgirl" hat. Her coyote friend had a battered general's attire. "You guys alright?" the rabbit asked with a southern draw.

"Errr…yeah, sure," Sonic responded, staring wide-eyed at the duo.

"Zhat was ze sentry, one of Eggman's toughest robots, but ze center is zheir weakness," the coyote noted.

"Good to know…"

"Thanks for the save," Tails chimed.

"No problem, hun. But where are ya'll from?" the rabbit asked. "Ah don't think I've seen you two around before."

"We're from Station Square out west of here. I'm Sonic and this is Tails."

"Why, a pleasure meeting ya. You can call me Bunnie, and this here is mah husband, Antoine," she motioned to the coyote. "Anyhow, ya'll might need to go ahead and leave. It ain't safe here with Eggman's robot sprawlin' all over the place."

"Hey, we didn't come here to sightsee," Sonic pointed out, "We're here for Eggman."

"Zhat may not be the best idea…" Antoine hesistated. "As much as I'd love to zoust him from ze kingdom, he has already won. We are just here trying to evacuate whoever we can. With ze Chaos Emerald powering them, the robots are too much to stop as ze army."

"Wait," Tails piped, noticing Antoine's attire, "Are you guys by any chance from the castle?"

"Why, yes we are. We were of the royal army until this last attack."

"Really?" Tails got excited. "Would you say you knew your way around pretty well?"

"Of course. Antoine's lived his whole life there, and I've lived there for nearly half of mine."

"Perfect! Me and Sonic were just wondering if we could team up with someone like you two! We want to break into the castle and free the princess before Eggman locks her in the Zone of Silence. We could probably do it while he's doing his little spectacle so that he'll be distracted. You two could lead us in through a back way, and Sonic could whiz in and crash the place before Eggman has any idea what's going on!"

"Are you ze nuts!?" Antoine startled. "Zhere iz no way we could do zhat without getting ze killed!"

"Antoine's right. Ah'm sorry, but ya just don't know what you're up against."

"Don't you want to try to rescue her?" Sonic asked.

"Of course. The princess is mah friend, and I'd do anything to help her, but we already fought that fight and lost. Eggman's got one massive robot with a Chaos Emerald embedded into it that powers all the others. Now that Eggman has learned how to control the energy, no one can possibly stop it. Our duty now is to save those in the Kingdom that aren't yet captured. If we go down doing this, it could mean life or death for the rest of them, and ah can't take that chance."

"So that's it? You're just going to give up now? Look, I may not have fought Eggman like you have before, but I have still definitely met the guy, and I know that what he likes to do best is scare you with big, fancy gadgets and robots. But hey, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. I'm going to fight him like I always have with or without you, because I'm not gonna let him win."

The couple listened to Sonic's spill, pondering what he said. True, he seemed inexperienced, but it's also true that neither of them really wanted to back down now and leave their homeland to Eggman. "So," Antoine ventured. "How would we do it?"

"Well, how did you guys fight him before?"

"Well, ze army faced his robot army at ze castle and we fought with ze defense."

"Then we do the exact opposite. Guys, it's time to get your sneak on."

* * *

_The next day, Castle Acorn…_

The Princess Sally stared ahead with apprehension as the robots escorted her down the sentry-lined hallway through the center of the castle. Just days earlier, this castle had been her home. Now, it was the centerpiece for a new conquest for the Eggman Empire. This wasn't the first time he had attacked, that's for certain. Ever since Eggman became leader of the neighboring city-state, Robotropolis, conquering AcornKingdom had been on his bucket list. For whatever reason, he seemed to have a sort of grudge against Sally's father, King Maximilian. Still, they had always won out against him before, but this time was different. With the power of the Chaos Emerald at his disposal, Eggman became unstoppable. He already defeated the army and conquered the kingdom, and now, he wished to make a show of his new power by banishing Sally into the Zone of Silence before an involuntary television audience. Sally at first tried to think of a plan to escape, but found it useless. The rest of her family had already been banished in the fight, and she had no idea if anyone else was still out there. She knew she wasn't completely helpless – her martial arts skills had helped her last against the robots for at least a little while before – but now it seemed pointless to try anything. There was no way she could rescue her family or her kingdom before it was too late. Dejected, Sally was ushered outside onto a stage where Eggman stood waiting before a literally captive audience of gloomy former Acorn citizens. Sally's eyes gleamed with hatred at the grinning doctor. He had taken everything away from her – her mother, her father, her brother Elias and his family, her friends…

"Ladies and Gentleman!" Eggman announced. "I _welcome_ you all today to the start of a new era by your gracious leader, the glorious Dr. Eggman! You have been accepted as one of the provinces of the Eggman Empire, the reigning kingdom of Mobius. Today marks the _end_ of the little Acorn line. While I would love to show you the banishment of the traitorous king, I must settle the daughter who has inherited the viles of her father! You can thank me for sparing you the tyranny of them all!" Eggman turned to start up his machine to create a one-way portal to the Zone of Silence. Distressed murmurs were heard throughout the audience, but Eggman continued as if his crowd was enthusiastic about the "change." Not that he would care either way, of course. As the machine powered up, Eggman ordered his robots to seize Sally and toss her inside the portal. "End to the Acor-!" Eggman began to shout before he was cut short by a blow from a blue blur, nearly knocking him off the stage. "Get him!" Eggman yelled as he scrambled back up. Just as the robot guards stopped to see the attacker, he had destroyed the both of them. He picked up a shocked Sally and whizzed off the stage. Startled, Sally took a cautious look up at her rescuer to see that it was a blue hedgehog she had never seen before in her life. Outside the castle he skidded to a halt and set her down.

"Look out!" she yelled at the sight of a robot guard aiming to fire at the hedgehog, but it was soon sliced in two by someone the princess did know well, "Antoine!"

The coyote turned around to see her, but the trio was soon met by an incoming barrage of guard robots. They had come in the castle virtually undetected, but the easy part was over. Antoine and Sonic met the robot army full force. Despite a plea by Antoine to leave and reach safety, Sally insisted on helping them fight. As she muscled every ounce of energy on fighting robots with martial arts, Sally's mind raced like never before. Minutes earlier, she thought she was gone for good, but hope was soon arising. Still, she puzzled over who the hedgehog was. Why was he here, and why would he have any interest in a kingdom that was not his own? She wondered at the motivation, but Antoine seemed to trust him, so perhaps she should as well. She must say though, that hedgehog did seem pretty brave…

But Sally's mind shifted when she thought of Bunnie. She thought before that both her and Antoine had died in the battle, but since he was here… "Antoine!" she moved over towards him, punching robots along the way. "Where's Bunnie?"

"She iz okay," Antoine assured, hearing the worry in Sally's voice. "She iz with Tails in ze castle backing him while Tails hacks ze base."

"Wait, who's Tails?"

"He is his friend," Antoine motioned to Sonic, who was busy spindashing robots. "His name iz Sonic ze Hedgehog. Zhey are from Station Square."

"Station Square?" Sally repeated. "They why is he…?" she was interrupted by a robot's firing. She spun around to kick him, only to see him plop dully at the blow motionless on the ground. She stared, puzzled once more, "How did that…?"

"It worked!" a two tailed fox came flying in with Bunnie by his side. "None of the guard robots or the security system is receiving any feed now!"

"You incompetent fools!" Eggman yelled as he came flying by on his pod. "You really think I can be stopped that easily? Security may be down, but now you have to deal with the big boys!" he threatened as three massive robots came marching in. The one in the middle had to be at least 20 feet tall, and it was flanked by two slightly smaller. As they drew closer, one could see that the one in the center had a sparkling blue chaos emerald lodged in his chest…

* * *

_Meanwhile, in an entirely different situation on the other side of the world…_

"You think he'll talk?"

"Not sure, the Raiju tend to be rather stubborn…"

The two friends and teammates, a mongoose girl and purple chameleon, stood outside a bamboo hut surrounded by open forest high in the KirvuMountains. A restless lynx with black and brown markings leapt up to them from his spot in a tree. "Are you sure I shouldn't be in there? I mean, I'm the only one here who actually knows the guy."

"And that's just the problem," the chameleon pointed out. "He does know you, and you're not exactly on good terms with him. Face it, if we leave the two of you alone for only five minutes, we will find you wrestling him on the floor. That is exactly the reason why we picked Sima to talk to him alone. She is the only one here who he won't have any prejudices against based on past or ethnicity."

"But on that logic, he won't like to spill his guts to any of us. I mean, he is technically our prisoner, and he is kind of on the opposite side to this fight."

The chameleon slowly nodded his head in silent agreement. He turned and looked over at the mountains, contemplating the situation. The other two didn't say a word – they knew him enough to know how much he like having time to think. He was, after all, a legit ninja. Had it not been for this group, Espio would have been fine staying reclusive and working alone, which was how most all of the chameleons of the Shinobi Clan acted. He was here, like all of them, because the DragonKingdom as they knew had become no more. Three years ago, the Iron Queen and King had taken over the entire land, and now they lived up to their title by ruling it with an iron fist. They both became quite powerful as rulers, but everyone knew that the real power lay behind the queen, Regina, a technomage who used her powers to turn anything with circuitry against them, and constantly created more weapons of technology to use in conquest. Their goal was nothing less than to become the most powerful rulers in the world, and persisted to expand their empire and extract every resource they could find to do it. However, this little group, the resistance, had also persisted to be a thorn in their side. They aimed to keep the empire from growing and protect any source of power in the land that the dictators might use.

To complete the conquest, the Iron Rulers had found ways to suppress the current powers, the ninja clans. Espio's clan, the Shinobi, was destroyed as an example to the others, leaving Espio as presumably the last of his kind. The lynx, Thunder, was from the Raiju Clan, which had submitted to the new rulers to become the army for the Iron Dominion. Unwilling to become a tool of destruction, Thunder had left his clan and diverted to the resistance. The other two clans, the Arachni and Yagyu, fled their lands and were scattered among the mountains and elsewhere. Though long-time ancestral enemies, Espio and Thunder were the first to team up to fight the Iron Dominion, forming the resistance which was later joined by the others. The mongoose, Mina, was one of the "free people," residents of the DragonKingdom that were of no clan but were oppressed by the Iron Rule. Also of the free people were best friends Mighty and Ray, an armadillo and flying squirrel who at the time were in the trees on "lookout" duty for any of the Iron Dominion's forces should they find them here. The last member to join of the team, Sima the Snow Leopard, was not from the Dragon Kingdom at all, but rather had resided in the Northern Mountains, where she was the rising chieftain of a village, before the Iron Queen had set out to conquer those lands.

As a whole, the resistance had formed a small but mighty group. Still, Espio worried over what may happened. The team in the last year had actually lost two of its members, one an Archini girl who left for largely unknown reasons, the other Monkey Khan, who was captured and infused with cybernetics by the Iron Queen in an ill-fated attack. The stakes were rapidly getting higher…

"How did it go?" Mina anxiously asked Sima, who had just stepped out of the hut.

"Could be better," she shrugged. "Lightning here wasn't too eager to talk, but I guess we could have expected as much. What I _did_ gather, however, is that the Iron Dominion is about to be going after a new power gem."

"What is it this time?" Thunder sighed, obviously bored.

"Something called the 'Master Emerald'."

"The what!?" Espio broke his silence in shock.

"Wait a minute. What's a 'Master Emerald' and what's the big deal about it?" Thunder puzzled.

"You don't know?" Espio asked in a slight surprise, receiving shaking heads in response by Thunder, Mina, and even Sima. He then realized that these guys have not known much else besides the DragonKingdom, which had especially in recent times been cut off from the rest of the world. The Shinobi clan had emphasized in its youth a learning about all of Mobius' history, but he couldn't say the same for other groups.

"The Master Emerald is the most powerful of the Chaos Emeralds, a conductor of them almost," Espio explained. "Stories say it was formed from cosmic energies many centuries ago, but it has for a long time been a relic possessed by the echidna nation. It is now hidden from any Mobian contact somewhere on AngelIsland over the continent of Downunda."

"Well, I guess we know just where to go!" Mina proposed.

"Whoa, hold up. Are we really going after this thing just because we _think _that's where the Iron Queen's going? I mean, it's not even on our continent! Again, I know Lightning. He probably said that on purpose just to set us off on a wild goose chase," Thunder suspected.

"But what if he's right?" Mina worried. "That thing could be pretty dangerous if it is in her hands."

"But she has never gone that far from the DragonKingdom borders before. Why would she leave her realm and go so far for this thing?"

"Because it is likely the most powerful thing in all of Mobius," Espio pointed out. Thunder had to reluctantly agree. He hardly knew a thing about what a chaos emerald was, but it just might be _that_ important. After all, the trainers for the children back at the Raiju clan never taught them much at all about history, much less world history. All they needed to know was that everyone else was an enemy and you should give your people undying loyalty. _Sure glad those days are over…_Thunder reminisced.

"H-Hey guys!" Ray shouted as he glided over, Mighty following him close behind. "You wouldn't believe what we just saw! T-the Iron army's on the move! She must have took a-about over half of them and is headed s-straight southeast!"

"Yeah, it doesn't look like they're stopping for anything," Mighty followed up. "Wonder what's so important this time."

"We might have an idea," Sima responded, motioning to the hut where Lightning was still locked inside. "It looks like the Iron Queen is now going after the Master Emerald in Downunda, so we should probably follow them."

"Wh-What's a M-Master Emerald?" Ray questioned.

Sima sighed. "I'm sure Espio will explain on the way," she looked over at him in a slightly playful glance.

**Alrighty then! Stay tuned for next time for a conclusion to the Acorn Kingdom episode; went off on a tangent about my "Dragon Kingdom resistance." Fair warning there are going to be a couple of stories going on at once like that - but Sonic and the others will still be center stage. The DK guys will meet with that group soon, but obviously they're going to meet up with a certain fiery red echidna first :) I'll just go ahead and clarify about that team; both Thunder and Sima are fan characters of mine - the rest are from the comics. Mighty, Ray, and Mina were not from the Dragon Kingdom orginally, I just placed them there in the story (I got the idea with Mina from the formal dress she wears that has that sort of style...) And, of course, Espio's placement is obvious. As for Sonic, his and Tails' meeting up with Sally, Bunnie, and Antoine is kind of like another version of the Knothole Freedom Fighters. All these characters got different backstories too...which will come around later. Anyways, thanks for reading! Disclaimer: I do not any of the characters except for the two. They all belong to SEGA and Archie Comics.**


	3. Chapter 3: Eggs and Acorns

_"Antoine! Bunnie! I've been looking all over for you!" cried the 13-year-old Princess Sally._

_"We've just been doing morning training. What are you wearing?" asked her friend, Bunnie. She was a bit surprised at the princess' attire, since the young future queen was always seen wearing fine dresses, but now wore a t-shirt, blue sleeveless vest, jeans, and a baseball cap – not the traditional wear for anyone in the Acorn Kingdom, much less herself. However, Sally displayed no sense of awkwardness at the unusual wear, but rather seemed as if she had perfectly accustomed._

_"I bought it from a traveler from Station Square. I thought I might be able to sneak out every once in a while if I was like this. Plus, I wanted to ask you guys a favor."_

_"No problem," Antoine responded._

_"Could you guys teach me how to fight?" Sally asked._

_"To what?" Antoine startled._

_"To fight – you know, not necessarily with a weapon, but martial arts. Look, I know it's kind of crazy and not exactly proper for a princess, but I thought, after what happened last year…maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea. I mean, Elias is getting that kind of training…and well, I kind of want to. Do you think you can do it?"_

_Bunnie and Antoine exchanged hesitant glances. In their kingdom, it was almost unheard of for a girl of noble origin to be a fighter, but Sally was different. She was never that into the pastimes and ways of a noble lady, even down to her being friends with two young fighters in the Royal Army such as themselves. Besides, these were hard and dangerous times with Eggman on the loose, and she could some good self-defense…_

_"Ah think we could do that," Bunnie responded._

_"Oh, thank you! Thanks so much!"_

_"No problem, Sal…Sally…"_

"SALLY! Wake up!"

Sally awoke with a start to see Antoine hanging over her. "Are you ze okay!? Get up!" he shouted. Sally looked up to notice the ravaged field with the three sentry robots still attacking, realizing that she had been knocked out by one.

"I'm fine," Sally hastily pulled herself up, "how are we?"

"Not good. Zhese robots are not going down easy…"

"I see. Looks like we need to regroup again…just hold them steady until we have a way out, okay?" The princess then rushed through the barrage to get to Sonic, while still regaining her senses. "Sonic!" she shouted at the hedgehog, who was smashing a spindash at the sentry. He got knocked down by a blow from the arm and skidded across the dirt, regaining his balance. "Yes?"

Sally ran in after him. "Look, we gotta call this off before the whole city gets destroyed. The citizens have already evacuated; if we can lead these things further into the denser part of the forest, we can probably slow them down enough so that we can retreat."

"Whoa, retreat? Now? No way, man. We're-" BOOM! The two darted to the side as cannon fire from the robot shot at them. "Yeah, we're just getting started!"

"'No way'? What do you mean, 'no way'?" Sally argued, all the while still nimbly dodging bullets from the attacking robot. "We _can't_ win this one! The longer we fight, the weaker we get, and the robots are hardly scathed! It will be suicide to stay!"

"Oh, contrare. If _we_ leave, _Eggman_ wins. This will be all for nothing!"

"For _what_? What do you want? This isn't even your country!"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes, it matters!"

"Then…you guys could retreat. _I'm_ fighting Egghead here."

"You're impossible! I'm ordering a retreat for the safety of the group. There are two brave warriors back there who already have been _devastated_ by this fight and I will _not_ let them be hurt again. As for you, as long as you're in _my_ lands you're going by_ my _rules. I'm at _least _taking your friend to safety – he is _way_ too young to be…wait, where is he?"

Sonic darted his eyes around him in shock, realizing that his two-tailed friend had gone missing. "Tails!" he called.

"Sonic! Over here!" Much to the Sonic and Sally's relief, Tails had called out from inside a ditch, where he was found caked in mud with a tracking device in hand.

"Tails! Where were you?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that. But come on! I need to show you something."

Sonic and Sally followed Tails into the ditch, where he uncovered some dirt to reveal a circular steel door in the ground.

"Awesome! What is that?"

"It's a secret entrance to one of Eggman's base of operations. I first found it when one of the robots threw me about half a mile back. I was able to hack into a secret door, and it led to an entire underground base! Eggman must have put these entrances in as a backup. A separate security system down there booted me out through this hole, but if we can get back in I think I can disable it."

"Nice. Looks like we _can_ win this thing after all," Sonic shot a victorious glance back at Sally. "Let's do it to it! Stand back," Sonic curled up into a spiky ball and rammed himself into the entrance, causing it to break in two. "We're in!" Sonic jumped in through the hole, followed by Tails.

"Wait, we can't just…it's not wise to…we're leaving everybody up here to fight! And…you're already gone. Oh I hope this works…" Sally cautiously jumped into the hole behind them.

"And…that should be it for the security system," Tails was already busy hacking into the mainframe computer.

"Okay, you two. You better have a good reason for leaving Bunnie and Antoine to fight those robots alone," Sally fumed. "I-"

"Relax, Eggman's robots can always be shut down from bases like this," Sonic assured. "Trust me."

"Trust you! Listen hedgehog, if you think I should-"

"Guys, we have a problem," Tails rushed to their side, flustered. "I tried to hack into the robot's controls, but it had a hidden kill code. The robots will self-destruct in five minutes!"

"What!? They could destroy everything around them!" Sally panicked, thinking of Bunnie and Antoine still in the battle and shooting an accusatory glance back at Sonic, who, surprisingly to her, actually seemed worried for once.

"We gotta get back up there," Sonic grabbed Sally and Tails by either hand and whizzed out of the hole. "Man, I _hate_ it when Eggman actually thinks a step ahead…" he muttered.

Back at the scene of the battle, Sally lost no time getting the news back to her friends. "Guys! We have to get out of here! The robots are going to self-destruct!"

"What?" Bunnie questioned.

CONTAIN ALL OPPOSITION. The head robot interrupted as the three surrounded the group, leaving no chance to run.

"We're trapped!"

"Not for long," Sonic assured as he burrowed himself into the ground, suddenly out of sight.

"What is he doing!?" Sally distressed.

"Don't worry, he got this, I think…" Tails hoped that his friend knew what he was doing. The four were left trying to dodge attacks from the robots as the countdown grew shorter and shorter.

"Hey toaster oven! Look at this!" Every eye turned to Sonic as he held up some sort of remote. Tails recognized it as coming from the base they were just in, a handheld device to control the robots.

"You want it? Come and get it!" Sonic ran off and the robots went after him, leaving a rather confused Sally, Bunnie, and Antoine behind.

The robots pursued Sonic in a chase through the forest as the countdown drew nearer. 50…49…48… Sonic knew he had to shake these guys fast. He whizzed backwards, forwards, left, and right, but still the robots stayed right on his tail. 28…27…26… Sonic tried to burrow himself again, but he just couldn't get a chance to let up running. 18…17…16… He then realized that the trail of trees seemed to let up in the distance, and starting running in that direction as fast as he could. 10…9…8… He got there to see just what he hoped there was…a cliff. 6…5… He took the remote and threw it at the robots before jumping off the cliff. 3…2…1…BOOM! The robots blew to smithereens behind Sonic, who was left gliding to the ground. _Now to get back to the others…_

* * *

The exhausted five met back up inside Castle Acorn. With his last line of defense gone, Eggman had fled the country with whatever robots and weaponry he had left, probably returning to his headquarters in Robotropolis. The Acorn Kingdom was once again a free nation.

"Yeah, I noticed the remote thingy when we were looking around the base. Sure, we didn't exactly have the access to use it, but the robots didn't know that. I thought that if I had it, they might chase after me to try to get it back," Sonic explained what he did earlier.

"Well, I have to say, that was _really_ crazy what you did back there, but it was also really brave. I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time," Sally apologized.

"Hey, don't sweat it. You were pretty awesome yourself. Never knew of a princess who could fight like that."

"Uh, Sonic? We haven't exactly met _any_ royalty before," Tails pointed out.

"Well, there's a first time for everything."

"Heh, well thanks, I guess," Sally blushed. "And thank you for your help. I'm definitely glad we got Eggman out, only…I'm not so sure what to do next. Eggman left the kingdom in a rather devastated state."

"Well…you _are_ next in line for ze throne," Antoine cautiously brought up.

"I suppose you're right…" Sally conceded, leaving an awkward silence to ensue. With the rest of Sally's family banished in the Zone of Silence, they seemed as good as gone. As the last of the Acorns, she just might have to take on the role of leader for the struggling Acorn Kingdom.

"I guess now we could get prepared for if Eggman comes back," Bunnie noted, breaking the silence. "You know, refortify the city and get supplies."

"That's probably the best we can do for now…" Sally pondered.

"Hey, you know, me and Tails could probably stick around for a while, in case the Eggster comes back and all," Sonic proposed.

"But…what about _your_ home?" Sally questioned.

"We don't _really_ have one," Tails admitted.

"But Station Square…?"

"…is more of a place to stay," Tails finished. "We kind of wander around the area."

"Then what _is_ your allegiance?"

"Errr…the wind?" Sonic responded.

"Wow. Well then, I really don't see a reason why not. You're welcome to stay."

* * *

"Ah, There it is. Isn't she a beaut'?"

"She sure is. Alright Nac, I got all the entrances sealed. Nobody's coming in now…"

"Just what I wanted to hear."

CRASH! The weasel shot the glass of the case, causing it to shatter. Inside was the Sea Crest Diamond, perhaps the largest of its kind in all of Downunda. The thieves were a sibling duo, Nac and his sister Nic, treasure-hunting weasels who would rob anyone and anywhere if the prize was right. Both of them were also the best of sharpshooters – no one wanted to pick a fight with these two, including the flustered museum security who were at this time desperately trying to find a way inside the barricaded display room.

"Look's like we're home-free, Nic. Let's get out of…"

"A-CHOO!"

"What in blisterin' places was that!?" the two looked around to see who could possibly be in the same room as them to find a crocodile with headphones around his neck clinging to the light fixture overhead.

"Hey!" Nac fired a shot the crocodile's way, but he dodged it and lost his grip, crashing hard onto the floor.

"What's the big idea snoopin' on us, gator!?" Nic questioned threateningly.

"Nic, I thought you cleared the perimeter!" Nac yelled accusatorily.

"Well, forgive me for not checkin' the blimen' ceiling!" was her sarcastic reply.

"Ugh! We'll talk about _that_ later. Right now, let's teach this city-boy a lesson why no one crosses – Umph!" the weasel was cut short by a blow to the back by a spiky-fisted red echidna.

"What in blue places…!" Nic tried to fire on the newcomer, but he knocked the gun clear out of her hand.

"How did _he_ get here!?" Nac yelled, now the two of them in an open fist-fight with the echidna.

"How should I know? Maybe next time, _you_ should perimeter-check _with_ me if you're so unhappy with my job!"

"Well, if _this_ keeps on happening, maybe we _do_ need a few new strategies."

"I got a strategy for you," the echidna gave his unsolicited reply. "Don't do a heist when everyone knows you're here." He gave a final blow to Nac that knocked him out. "Amateurs…Ahh!" the echidna in his unguarded moment got grazed in the arm by a bullet from Nic's retrieved gun. She quickly reloaded, but was then knocked out with a single blow from behind by the crocodile.

"Yeah, we did it!" the crocodile elated as the two thieves remained passed out on the floor.

"Looks like security is almost through the door," the echidna noted, ignoring the crocodile's cheer of victory. "I better be going." He left the building through a service entrance which he simply knocked open with a punch. Following him as he left was the crocodile, who continued talking.

"I mean, you gotta admit that was pretty awesome, right? Those foxes didn't know what hit 'em!"

"They were weasels."

"Weasels! Right. But yeah, you just came in out of nowhere and went all kung fu and stuff on them! How did you get in?"

"There was a loose ceiling panel."

"Right…nice move. I was just looking around when I heard the them breaking in, so I thought – I gotta make myself scarce, right? So I climbed onto the ceiling lights. You see, I was there for a job interview, but that…hey, dude, your arm is bleeding. You alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, look, I really got to go now, so I'll be going alone now."

"Where are you going?"

"Um…nowhere in particular."

"Nowhere at all? Where do you live?"

"Uh…nowhere. Look, I just have to be on the move…I can't stick around a city with the Dark Eyes everywhere, so I really need to just go. Alone."

"Hey, that's funny! I live nowhere too! That, I _have_ had a few run-ins with the Dark Legion, so I know what you mean, man."

"When did _you_ have problems with them?"

"Uh…what about you? Other than the fact that you're…um…obviously part of that _other_ echidna clan…"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Great! Then, we make an agreement. I don't talk about my past; you don't have to tell me yours. Good, right?"

"Fine. But this doesn't mean you're coming with me."

"Just for a little while?"

"Why?"

"Because I need to go _somewhere_! The city is pretty drab when someone's always watching you. That, and I want to be _not_ alone for once."

"Fine," the echidna could not resist his companion's pleading eyes. "You can travel with me for a little while, but I'm _not_ making any guarantees."

"Great! Thanks, man! Hey, what's your name? I'm Vector."

"It's Knuckles. Knuckles…of the House of Edmund."


End file.
